Greetings from a group celebrating diversity

Different perspectives:

Sam, Alice, Nana & Ronja

The following blog is seen from a sarcastic point of view to highlight the differences between the MUBS students and the CBS students.

We are now done with most of our interviews and have gotten to know each other quite well in the group. We have for example learned that meeting at 9 o’clock with MUBS students is somewhere in between 9.30 and 11.30. We have also learned that wazungu (muzungu in plural) have no idea how to dress properly for meetings and end up half naked and with pink flipflops for an interview with the AGOA administration.

“Naked muzungu at AGOA office”:

We have learned that it is possible to run two businesses, talk on two phones at the same time while sending emails on a tablet and switching between Swahili, English, and Luganda and doing field research with wazungu – and this of course without showing the least signs of stress and having a big smile on your face all the time.

“Da Busy Boss”:

Also, if you ask the MUBS students how it is to “walk” with wazungu, they will say that: “Wazungu don’t walk, they RUN!”, and if you ask a muzungu how it is to walk with a MUBS student they will answer: “MUBS student don’t walk, they STROLL veeeeeeeeeeryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy sloooooooooooowlyyyyyy!”.

“Break from muzungu-running”:

MUBS students driving skills are also QUITE IMPRESSIVE though a muzungu might question their decisions while driving. One day we ended on a road that in muzungu standards would have been a one way road, but while waiting for an SUV to leave a parking spot, two other cars decides to drive towards us from the other end of the street – Now who gets to go first??? It seems like there is a hierarchy between cars: In this situation, the silver Mercedes (of course) got to go first, while “we” (Sam) had to make the most precise parallel parking maneuver EVER! We almost moved straight to the right. Then the SUV moved, and we got the nice parking spot. That’s how it’s done Ugandan style!

“Chicken, chicken…who moves first?”:

Another thing is that MUBS students don’t say ‘goodbye’ on phones, they just hang up. Wazungu find it rather rude, but as a MUBS student explained: “This is business, this is not pleasure!”

Pronunciation also tends to give some trouble every now and then. For instance if a muzungu gets a restaurant recommendation from a MUBS student, they might think they are going to a restaurant called “Lones” , but really, the restaurant’s name is “Lawns”. As an extra example: hat, hut, heart, hard, hurt, hot are all pronounced the same way: “hart”.

“Happy moments”:

MUBS students also find it VERY weird that wazungu prefer to sit in the sun over the shadow. They sweat like pigs, turn completely red like shrimps, and the next morning they wake up still pale white like peanuts.

“Muzungu feeling like home”:

Lastly, the most important lesson learned is that both the wazungu and the MUBS students have a lot of self-irony. Our humor match perfectly and a lot of laughter is shared every day.